The Dodo Archive

Watch 100 Baby Turtle Hatchlings Descend On The Beach For Their Nighttime Debut

Loggerhead turtles spend nearly seven decades roaming the oceans, coming on shore only very rarely to lay a clutch of eggs. But the very start of their life is a different story -- it's spent underground, buried in a nest for 80 days with 80 of their fellows.

Hatchlings dig through the sand to reach the surface in the dead of night, shielded from predators. They make the mad dash to the ocean, hopefully to spend the next 70 years navigating its waves.

A Florida webcam captured this incredible phenomenon on a beach in the Keys, when about 100 baby loggerhead turtles came to life:Watch 100 Baby Turtle Hatchlings Descend On The Beach For Their Midnight Debut: